Transportation in Calgary
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The city of Calgary, Alberta has a large transportation network that encompasses a variety of road, rail, air, public transit, and pedestrian infrastructure. Calgary is also a major Canadian transportation centre and a central cargo hub for freight into and out of north-western North America. The city sits at the junction between the "Canamex" highway system and the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1 in Alberta).
As a prairie city, Calgary has never had any major impediments to growth. As such, it has developed into a city with an area of about 702 km2 (of which over two-thirds is built up) and a metropolitan area of nearly 5,100 km2. This outword growth has encouraged the development of an extensive personal vehicle-oriented road network complete with a freeway system.
Since 1981, when the city officially opened the first leg of its CTrain rapid transit system, emphasis on public transportation as an alternative to cars has become important. The CTrain now has a higher ridership than any other light rail system in any other North American city with 230,000 boardings per weekday [1]. Cycling is also seen as a major alternative to driving in Calgary. In recent years, increases in the population and density of inner city neighbourhoods such as the Beltline have favoured greater pedestrianism as well.
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[edit] Public transportation
Calgary's primary public transportation system is operated by Calgary Transit. The service operates only within Calgary city limits and does not yet provide transportation to and from other communities within the Calgary Region. However, some of the communities within Calgary's metropolitan area provide there own transit services (for example, Airdrie Transit). Calgary Transit is owned and managed by the City of Calgary.
[edit] Light rail
- See also: C-Train
The light rail transit (LRT) system, known as the CTrain, consists of 42.1 km of track connecting 36 stations and was one of the first such systems in North America [2]. Until very recently, Calgary and Edmonton were the only two North American cities with populations under one million to operate rapid mass transit systems. The Whitehorn-City Centre line serves downtown and the Northeast, while the Dalhousie-Somerset line runs between the Northwest and South Calgary via Downtown. Travel between stations along 7th Avenue in downtown is free-of-charge. Unique to the C-Train system, its power is completely wind generated and completely free of emissions.
[edit] Buses
Calgary Transit also has a system of buses, with routes stretching over the whole city. It has won several awards for its efficiency and its environmental responsibility. It consists of over 160 bus routes and three C-Train lines (two routes), stretching over 4,500 km [3].
[edit] Roads and streets
Calgary has an extensive street network. Smaller roads are supplemented with a number of major arteries, expressways and freeways. The largest of these is the north-south running Deerfoot Trail. The majority of main expressways and freeways are named Trails, as well as some of the main arterial roads that do not fit in the numbering grid. Major streets are often named after important people from Calgary's history such as Macleod Trail (named for one of the city founders, Colonel James MacLeod) and Crowchild Trail (named for former Tsuu T'ina leader Chief David Crowchild).
Plans originating in the 1950s and 1960s for a considerably more extensive freeway system including elevated freeways were largely abandoned in favour of a growing trend to reduce the emphasis on roads and increase the amount public transportation infrastructure in North American cities.
[edit] Organization
Traditionally Calgary's roads were built on a grid system with numbered Streets (running north-south) and Avenues (running east-west). The city is divided into four quadrants: Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest, and all street names and addresses end with suffixes corresponding to the quadrant of the city in which they lie (NW, NE, SE or SW). The central point of the quadrant system is the Centre Street Bridge, with Centre Street and Centre Avenue forming the boundaries (although the points vary; most of the south end has Macleod Trail as a boundary, except near Chinook Centre where Macleod Trail bends westward; in the west end, the Bow River forms the boundary for the most part). Roads in predominantly residential areas as well as freeways and expressways do not generally conform to the grid and are usually not numbered as a result (although some suburban streets are indeed numbered if they fall in place on the grid).
The main lines on the grid are fairly evenly distributed at intervals of about 1 mile (1.6 km) where an arterial road (or expressway) is usually situated (on former Township and Range Roads). They are at roughly the following Streets and Avenues (although not always named as such):
- Avenues north of downtown: 16th, 32nd, 48th, 64th, 80th, 96th, 112th, 128th, 144th
- Avenues south of downtown: 17th, 33rd, 50th, 66th, 82nd, 90th, 114th, 130th, 146th, 162nd, 178th, 194th
- Streets east of downtown: 6th, 15th, 24th, 36th, 52nd, 68th, 84th
- Streets west of downtown: 14th, 24th, 37th, 53rd, 69th, 85th, 101st, 117th
A quirk of the numbering is that it was intended for addresses on numbered streets to begin at 100 (not 0) at Centre Street and Centre Avenue and move out accordingly. For example, 545 16th Avenue NW lies between 4th and 5th Streets NW. There are many violations of such, however, especially in suburban areas. The highest address numbers are found on north-south streets in the southernmost suburbs, where they approach 20000.
[edit] Major streets
- 6th Avenue S / 9th Avenue S (Highway 1A-part)
- 14th Street W
- 16th Avenue N (Highway 1 / Trans-Canada Highway)
- 17th Avenue S (Highway 1A-part)
- 52nd Street E
- Anderson Road
- Barlow Trail
- Blackfoot Trail
- Bow Trail
- Centre Street
- Country Hills Boulevard
- Crowchild Trail (Highway 1A-part)
- Deerfoot Trail (Queen Elizabeth II Highway / Highway 2)
- Glenmore Trail
- John Laurie Boulevard
- Macleod Trail (Highway 2A)
- Marquis of Lorne Trail (Highway 22X)
- McKnight Boulevard
- Memorial Drive
- Sarcee Trail
- Stoney Trail (Highway 201)
[edit] Air
- See also: List of airports in the Calgary area
The Calgary International Airport (ICAO Code CYYC, IATA Code YYC) is the only international airport in the Calgary Region and one of only two in the province. The airport is a hub for WestJet Airlines and a regional hub for Air Canada (and other Star Alliance members). In total, about 30 passenger airlines have regular scheduled flights to and from the airport. It is also a major hub for several cargo airlines including DHL, FedEx, Purolator, and United Parcel Service.
The airport primarily serves the Canadian prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) for connecting flights to British Columbia, Eastern Canada, 15 major American centres, nine European airports, and four destinations in Mexico and the Caribbean [4].
Calgary International Airport saw 10.2 million passenger movements in 2005. In December of that same year, it was the fourth busiest airport in Canada after Toronto Pearson International Airport, Vancouver International Airport and Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.
Calgary's second airport, Calgary/Springbank Airport, is located in the western suburb of Springbank, handles the majority of private-plane flights, and acts as a reliever for the main airport.
[edit] Rail
[edit] Passenger rail
Calgary is also the largest Canadian city without any intercity passenger rail service, as all VIA Rail service to the city was terminated in the late 1980s and early 1990s by the Conservative government.
- Future high speed rail
- Possible future commuter rail
[edit] Freight
[edit] Bicycle and pedestrian
- See also: Sport in Calgary
The City of Calgary also maintains a network of paved multi-use pathways (for bicycle, roller skating and jogging). The dedicated pathway network in Calgary is among the most expansive in North America and spans 635 km. There are also about 290 km of signed on-street bicycle routes [5]. The pathways connect many of the city's parks, river valley, residential neighbourhoods, and downtown. Even the airport is on the pathway network. Calgarians make year-round use of these paths for walking, running, and cycling to various destinations. In June 2005, massive flooding destroyed much of the pathway system (including many pedestrian bridges) along the Elbow and Bow rivers. Repairs are currently planned or underway.
Calgary's system of elevated walkways or skyways downtown (known as the +15 system) is the most extensive in the world. These walkways not only serve to connect buildings, but also contain restaurants, shops, and services. The system is 16 km long.
